Name: Bolita Brown Double Nut Brown Ale
Style: English-style Brown Ale
Brewery: Cigar City Brewing website
Country: USA
Region: Tampa, Fl
ABV: 9.0%
How served: 750ml capped bottle poured into my Abby St. Sixtus chalice.
My Overall Opinion: Amazing.
I paired this beer with: Angel hair pasta with a chicken marinara sauce.
Tasted on: Tuesday November 3, 2009
Note: This was the best brown ale I’ve ever tasted. It kept improving as the beer warmed. At 9% ABV, this was also the strongest brown ale I can remember & I think I would be hard pressed to find a brown ale over 9% on the market. In spite of its high ABV you don’t notice the alcohol and Bolita Brown was extremely drinkable. If you enjoy brown ales, hunt down this brew, if you don’t know if you like brown ales, find this one and try it.
“Bolita was a type of lottery popular with the working class citizens of the Ybor City district of Tampa. Bolita means “little ball” but profits from the illegal (and often rigged) game were anything but little. In the 1920’s Tampa native Charlie Wall (center label donning the dapper hat) was the undisputed kingpin of the Bolita racket. Our Bolita is a Double Northern English-style brown ale that has a complex malt forward character with notes of chocolate, toffee and hints of roasted nuts in the finish. Bolita pairs well with Baklava, Big Band Music, cool evenings and robust cigars”.
